Ethereum and Solana Blockchains Lost More than $320 Million

In an apparent hack Wednesday afternoon, one of the most famous bridges connecting the ethereum and Solana blockchains lost more than $320 million.

It is DeFi’s second-largest exploit ever, following the $600 million Poly Network crypto heist. The most significant attack on Solana, a competitor to ethereum that is gaining traction in the non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems.

Ethereum is the most widely used blockchain network. It is a major player in the world of DeFi; a technology in which programmable pieces of code known as smart contracts can replace middlemen such as banks and lawyers in certain types of business transactions. Solana is gaining popularity because it is less expensive and faster than ethereum.

Developers have built cross-chain bridges that allow users to send cryptocurrency from one chain to another.

A wormhole is a protocol that allows users to transfer tokens and NFTs between Solana and Ether.

Wormhole developers confirmed the exploit on Twitter. They said that the network is “down for maintenance” while it investigates a “potential exploit.”

The official website for the protocol is currently unavailable.

The attacker’s profits thus far total at least $251 million in ethereum, nearly $47 million in Solana, and more than $4 million in USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar price.

Wrapped Ethereum Tokens

According to Auston Bunsen, co-founder of QuikNode, bridges like Wormhole work by having two intelligent contracts — one on each chain. A bridge-like Wormhole takes an ethereum token, locks it into an agreement on one chain, and issues a parallel token on the other side of the bridge.

According to preliminary CertiK analysis, the attacker used a vulnerability on the Solana side of the Wormhole bridge. This way they created 120,000 “wrapped” ethereum tokens for themselves. They then appear to have used these tokens to claim the ethereum held on the ethereum side of the bridge.